This document provides information on four American poets from the 19th century: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. It discusses their backgrounds and contributions to poetry. Longfellow was the first American poet to gain national popularity and adapted European poetic forms to American subjects and themes. Holmes wrote the famous poem "Old Ironsides" to protest the destruction of the USS Constitution. The document also provides brief overviews of poetic meter, feet, and mood.